Nguyen Van Tri, 36, was arrested an hour after arriving at Song Nhac, a big fashion shop in District 5, with a clasp knife to attack the shop workers at around 10 p.m., the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

Eyewitnesses said that a woman named Ly Thu Nga had refused to leave her coat in a wardrobe at the shop door as requested. She argued with a shop worker for a while before calling Tri on the phone.

Tri attacked five workers with his knife and one of them, 21-year-old Huynh Chi Thang, succumbed to multiple stabs to his belly and one to the chest.

The shop, owned by Bui Ngoc Tuan, 55, was crowded at the time and many customers fled in panic.

Tri was arrested at a hospital where he received treatment for his injuries. He had been previously convicted and given an 18-month probationary sentence for deliberately causing injuries.

In related news, a 23-year-old man named Vo Van Dieu was stabbed to death during a fight in front of a dance club in the southern beach town of Vung Tau early Tuesday morning.

The death followed a fight that broke out between guards of the club and those of a karaoke shop nearby.

Dieu, a worker of the karaoke shop, received a fatal slash from Le Phuoc Dong, a guard with the club, after he threatened to stab one of Dong's colleagues.